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Sep 26, 2015
The reviews here are mostly just bull.
Finishing the film 3 days ago, it's fresh in my mind, so let me enlighten you with a true review.
The story starts off simple but then goes its own direction with the introduction of plot twists, religious perspectives and its referral or continuation to The Laws Of The Sun (watch that before you watch this film).
Despite not being an official sequel to the animated film mentioned above, this anime draws its ideas from it and references it using its actual scenes - so in a way, it's a sequel to that story.
What's wrong with the story being "too religious"?
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Why watch it knowing that it's going to be religious, since the title 'screams' religion?
It's meant to be religious. Sure, it does seem like propaganda, but keep in mind that this film was created in Japan for Japanese audiences and that Japan is a mainly Buddhist-Shinto country.
So no, its purpose is not to brainwash humans living in the US or aliens living in Earth 2.0 into following Buddha's ways.
The art is generally a good 8 - and it gets even greater when the anime turns serious or goes epic, like at the end when there's a great battle and the art is turned up a notch to an 9.
Basically, it goes like this -> though at times it seems like a 7, normally it's an 8 and at certain moments it's a 9.
Now, I would say that the dub sucks, but then there's Sorano, whose voice actor, in my opinion, nailed a 'reborn Buddha' perfectly.
Seriously, in every single grand speech he made, which most of the time lasted for 3 minutes, I would get goosebumps, and I'd say the same for other enthusiastic anime watchers.
The school girls sounded 20 years older than they actually are, apart from Sayako, whose dub was actually a mile better than the others'.
Sayako's boyfriend's dubbing seemed so lifeless, it felt like his voice actor wasn't really bothered about it.
If given a choice, I would rate the dub a 6 - it has its pros and cons, but while the cons outweigh the pros, Sorano's dubbing far outweighs the cons.
But seriously, it's not unbearable and I'd recommend watching the dub for Sorano's godly voice.
The sound. There's one BGM in particular that plays when Buddha/Sorano appears, probably the most memorable of the OST there, for being so majestic and godly-like.
The ending song is the second-most memorable - it sticks on you and what's good about it is that it tells the story of Buddha while sounding great and catchy at the same time.
But in general, the BGMs fit the scenes nicely, and that's what matters really.
Some of the characters do stick on you, especially Sorano.
I once skipped to a scene of this film back in December 2013 and glimpsed Sorano, the reborn Buddha.
It's been almost two years and when I decided to watch this film, I was anticipating his introduction the most.
I'd say the same for any other enthusiastic watchers.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were also anticipating his appearance whenever things went wrong.
I started off hating the false Buddha and ended the anime with respect for him, now that's something.
There's Sayako's dad - the anime went fast with its pace with his reaction to his secret being revealed, which disappointed me and really lowered his value.
Then there's Sayako's little brother, a cliched kid who runs around doing whatever he likes, and the anime does something smart with him at the end and the credits - for that reason it will stick with me whenever I see this anime.
Now, if you're a skeptic of religion, you might have a hard time watching this because it seems like 'propaganda', but if you watch this with an open mind you'll really enjoy it.
Overall, it's really memorable, enjoyable and definitely worth a re-watch, which I plan on doing when the week starts hopefully.
Lastly, in Buddhism there ARE demons and evil spirits, such as an Asura, which is mentioned in the anime.
And about possessions - ever heard of a Yakkha? Ever heard of the Atanatiya Sutta?
Before bashing on an anime, it's better to actually research points that you'll present.
The anime doesn't misinterpret its ideas and mix it with Christianity, it's mainly about Buddhism.
I'm not a Buddhist nor religious, more like an agnostic, but what's wrong with the religious side of anime?
Just enjoy it for what it is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 20, 2015
This episode, you could say, is almost like a summary, which is why I gave an 'Overall' of 6.
Due to the complexity of the main anime, and the murders as well as the 'supernatural perspective' in it, it was quite hard to comprehend what was going on at the beginning.
However, at the end I'd say I understood 80% of what had happened as everything was revealed then.
But what about the remaining 20% which most of the watchers, including me, couldn't comprehend or had failed to remember?
Well that's when this Special works its magic on us.
It basically retells the events that took place
...
in the story from the perspective of Atsuko, the younger sister of the talkative priest Akihiko Chuzenji, who is seen in one of the earlier episodes - this was a strength to the Special as they reused a very minor character so that we at least have a connection to them, a contrast to a few other anime in which random, unknown characters are used to do this.
Furthermore, the Special has a story in itself which links to the telling of the murders that took place, which doesn't make it a pure summary - I found this interesting as I could then not doze off but instead I was interested in it.
The Special also made it so that the episode itself was centred around Atsuko's perspective from day 1, during the time when the murders were happening, and ended itself a year later or so after the case was solved - this was indeed a great element to it because the Special doesn't take place 'after' the anime's story takes place, but during, which made it all the more realistic and not just 'forced'.
In addition, they include one of the scenes from the earlier episode in the main anime where Atsuko was in just to mix it in to make it seem more natural and to also remind us of who she is.
I also loved how they reused the soundtracks and characters, it was almost nostalgic.
So to conclude, definitely watch this if you didn't catch on to all of the details of the main series.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 27, 2015
I think this was a really good way to end the entire Dragon Ball (excluding the sequel series) series for me.
These two episodes served as educative episodes for young children, the then watchers of Dragon Ball in Japan, the first episode being about how to cross the road and the dangers of not being alert, the second episode being about how to prevent fires & who to call if there is one.
While it did retain the music, animation & great voice acting in both episodes, I feel as if the second episode made Goku seem more mature than he actually was back when he was
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still small, which sort of ruined the character.
However, this mistake was partially resolved when it turned out that Goku was actually a fire-fighter, though it still didn't fully resolve the mistake as we all know that kid Goku would never be mature whatever field of job he may be in.
I also loved how the two episodes ended on two different 'remixes' of the Dragon Ball opening (or was it the same?), which made the episodes almost distinct and more memorable for the future.
What was also great was how they reused old characters and displayed them either as some of the 'main' characters or just showed a glimpse of them in the background, "Nam" being one I saw.
In general, I think anyone would really enjoy these two episodes, no matter what age they are.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 21, 2014
At first I thought that this anime was all about the urban city and people turning dark because of pictures I saw on Facebook and purpleeyeswtf's abridged series.
But after finally being bothered to watch the abridged series, I found it cool and decided to give it a try -- I wasn't disappointed!
Story: The story is just legendary, with some plot holes (unfortunately, but it won't affect you in any way) - a student receives a power called Geass which allows him to control people through eye contact and with this he decides to destroy the Brittania Empire which has control of most of the world
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(and oppresses the people). A mix of several genres.
Art: On point! Never seemed to disappoint me!
Sound: One of the best points of the anime - the openings, endings, soundtracks et... I get nostalgia from just listening to these songs.
Characters: All of these characters were stuck on me, so when I finished the anime, I felt some sort of void in my heart...
Enjoyment: The enjoyment I gained from watching this series left an everlasting impression on me! It quickly rose to the top of my favourite anime list, beating Yu Yu Hakusho and One Piece, from just half of the first season!
(Though later One Piece became first again while Code Geass second.)
Overall: Everything was great! Even the dub seemed amazing to me! If only the story didn't shift a bit, I would've given the story a '10'!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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